Atheist Nexus2017-08-18T04:02:41ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardnerhttp://api.ning.com:80/files/RogKwYIq1EUf7IEsGKZnqcMTkSnUen19J-2GMmIPFLe-3qg*dJsMQ1dEf1b8uz*V-B0RIMVmYFrwo6s45Tw3qKa-LL1aTCcX/1227628091.jpeg?xgip=1%3A40%3A448%3A448%3B%3B&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://atheistnexus.org/group/gayatheists/forum/topic/listForContributor?user=0qxp7c3qz3s2k&feed=yes&xn_auth=noFascist Anti-Gay Backlash Can Escalate Fasttag:atheistnexus.org,2017-07-13:2182797:Topic:27557162017-07-13T00:31:14.642ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardner
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-nazis-destroyed-the-first-gay-rights-movement-80354" target="_blank">How the Nazis destroyed the first gay rights movement</a></p>
<blockquote><p><span>The story of how close Germany – and much of Europe – came to liberating its LGBTQ people before violently reversing that trend under new authoritarian regimes is an object lesson showing that the history of LGBTQ rights is not a record of constant progress.</span></p>
<p><span><span>While these…</span></span></p>
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<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-nazis-destroyed-the-first-gay-rights-movement-80354" target="_blank">How the Nazis destroyed the first gay rights movement</a></p>
<blockquote><p><span>The story of how close Germany – and much of Europe – came to liberating its LGBTQ people before violently reversing that trend under new authoritarian regimes is an object lesson showing that the history of LGBTQ rights is not a record of constant progress.</span></p>
<p><span><span>While these developments didn’t mean the end of centuries of intolerance, the 1920s and early ‘30s certainly looked like the beginning of the end. On the other hand, the greater “out-ness” of gay and trans people provoked their opponents.</span></span></p>
<p><span>In the 1930s... </span>Fascist parties offered Europeans a choice of stability at the price of democracy. Tolerance of minorities was destabilizing, they said. Expanding liberties gave “undesirable” people the liberty to undermine security and <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=YquzCgAAQBAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=laurie+marhoefer+sex+and+the&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiyp8Hknd7SAhUI0oMKHRxXAqAQ6AEIGjAA#v=snippet&amp;q=complained%20of%20the%20%22rapid%20flood%22&amp;f=false">threaten traditional</a> “moral” culture. Gay and trans people were an obvious target.</p>
<p>What happened next shows <span style="background: yellow;">the whiplash speed with which the progress of a generation can be thrown into reverse</span>.</p>
<p><span>One day in May 1933, pristine white-shirted students marched in front of Berlin’s Institute for Sexual Research – that safe haven for LGBTQ people – calling it “Un-German.” Later, a mob hauled out its library to be burned. </span></p>
<p><span><span>When Nazi leader Adolph Hitler needed to </span><a href="http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-roehm.htm">justify</a><span> arresting and murdering former political allies in 1934, he said they were gay. This </span><a href="https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007885">fanned</a><span> anti-gay zealotry by the Gestapo, which opened a special anti-gay </span><a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/scotts/ftp/pro-choice/himmler-order.html">branch</a><span>. During the following year alone, the Gestapo arrested more than </span><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/opposing-fascism/homosexual-men-in-vienna-1938/54937C49AA3BBCC3E27C8B0E2FF5ABDE">8,500</a><span> gay men, quite possibly using a list of names and addresses seized at the Institute for Sexual Research. [emphasis mine]</span></span></p>
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<p><span>I found this history depressing and scary.</span></p>
<p><span><a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/176456/width926/file-20170630-8203-170x8ih.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/176456/width926/file-20170630-8203-170x8ih.jpg?width=300" width="300" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
<p><a href="https://jerbearinsantafe.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/wpid-holocaust-gay-02-14-jpg.jpeg?w=640" target="_blank"><img src="https://jerbearinsantafe.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/wpid-holocaust-gay-02-14-jpg.jpeg?w=640" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://jerbearinsantafe.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/holocaust-memorial-day-the-nazi-bid-to-exterminate-gay-people-peter-g-tatchell/" target="_blank">image source</a></p> L.A. Pride parade morphs into #ResistMarchtag:atheistnexus.org,2017-06-13:2182797:Topic:27518942017-06-13T00:11:31.805ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardner
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pride-resist-march-20170611-story.html" target="_blank">L.A. Pride parade morphs into #ResistMarch, as tens of thousands hit the streets</a></p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/93555027-132.html" target="_blank">Pride Parade became a resistance march</a>. (link is to a video)</p>
<blockquote><p>From the first parade in 1970 — which the city’s Police Commission tried to stop, warning that participants could be assaulted —…</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pride-resist-march-20170611-story.html" target="_blank">L.A. Pride parade morphs into #ResistMarch, as tens of thousands hit the streets</a></p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/93555027-132.html" target="_blank">Pride Parade became a resistance march</a>. (link is to a video)</p>
<blockquote><p>From the first parade in 1970 — which the city’s Police Commission tried to stop, warning that participants could be assaulted — it evolved into a colorful, festive event that celebrated the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities.</p>
<p>But on Sunday, the parade was replaced with what can best be described as a symbol of the Trump era — a protest march, complete with a hashtag in its name: the #ResistMarch.</p>
<p>“This year, the LGBTQ community is lending our iconic rainbow flag to anyone who feels like their rights are under threat and to anyone who feels like America’s strength is its diversity,” said Brian Pendleton, who organized the march. “The political climate we find ourselves in has driven us to galvanize and unite.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.trbimg.com/img-593ea278/turbine/la-resistmarch-2017-20170611/750/750x422" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-593ea278/turbine/la-resistmarch-2017-20170611/750/750x422" class="align-center"/></a></p>
</blockquote> Thanks "Equality State"tag:atheistnexus.org,2017-05-06:2182797:Topic:27472882017-05-06T00:46:44.296ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardner
<p><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/further/2017/05/02/wyoming-lives-and-lets-tutu" target="_blank">Wyoming Lives and Lets Tutu</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/tutu_big_18160689_460689944280623_2397015088914497536_n.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/tutu_big_18160689_460689944280623_2397015088914497536_n.jpg"></img></a></p>
<blockquote><p><span>In these mean-spirited times, a sliver of grace and good: After Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi …</span></p>
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<p><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/further/2017/05/02/wyoming-lives-and-lets-tutu" target="_blank">Wyoming Lives and Lets Tutu</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/tutu_big_18160689_460689944280623_2397015088914497536_n.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/tutu_big_18160689_460689944280623_2397015088914497536_n.jpg" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<blockquote><p><span>In these mean-spirited times, a sliver of grace and good: After Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi </span><a href="https://www.greybullstandard.com/2017/04/25/enzi-comments-at-greybull-high-school-stir-controversy/">told</a><span> students at Greybull High School, "I know a guy who wears a tutu and goes to bars on Friday night and is always surprised that he gets in fights. Well, he kind of </span><a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/04/gop-senator-tells-bizarre-story-guy-wears-tutus/">asks </a><span>for it," defiant supporters of LGBTQ equality - including lots of scruffy, smiling, boots-and-jeans straight guys - took to wearing tutus to work, school and, yes, bars to protest Enzi's blame-the-victim response...</span></p>
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<p><span><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/tutu_enzi_tylet_wolfgang_nc-gpofyu0aacx3f_cc_custom-aaa8678122103a3cbbb97afb5727067786bed764-s600-c85.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/tutu_enzi_tylet_wolfgang_nc-gpofyu0aacx3f_cc_custom-aaa8678122103a3cbbb97afb5727067786bed764-s600-c85.jpg" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
<p>I feel better!</p> We're targeted by the justice systemtag:atheistnexus.org,2016-12-28:2182797:Topic:27275692016-12-28T22:21:22.868ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardner
<p><a href="http://www.newnownext.com/lgbt-prison-study/12/2016/?xrs=synd_facebook_nnn" target="_blank">LGBT People Are More Likely To End Up In Prison</a></p>
<p><a href="http://imageslogotv-a.akamaihd.net//uri/mgid:file:http:shared:newnownext.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/jail-1480967017.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1800" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="http://imageslogotv-a.akamaihd.net//uri/mgid:file:http:shared:newnownext.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/jail-1480967017.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=300" width="300"></img></a></p>
<blockquote><p>LGBT People Are More Likely To End Up In Prison</p>
<p>Sexual minorities—those who self-identify as lesbian,…</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.newnownext.com/lgbt-prison-study/12/2016/?xrs=synd_facebook_nnn" target="_blank">LGBT People Are More Likely To End Up In Prison</a></p>
<p><a href="http://imageslogotv-a.akamaihd.net//uri/mgid:file:http:shared:newnownext.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/jail-1480967017.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1800" target="_blank"><img src="http://imageslogotv-a.akamaihd.net//uri/mgid:file:http:shared:newnownext.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/jail-1480967017.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=300" width="300" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<blockquote><p>LGBT People Are More Likely To End Up In Prison</p>
<p>Sexual minorities—those who self-identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual or reported a same-sex sexual experience before incarceration—were disproportionately behind bars: 9.3% of men in prison, 6.2% of men in jail, 42.1% of women in prison, and 35.7% of women in jail.</p>
<p>According to the data, the number of bisexual/lesbian women behind bars is eight times greater than in the general population, where only the 3.4% identify as such.</p>
<p>The data went so far as to distinguish between sexual identity and behavior: “Not everyone who has had a same-sex experience identifies as gay,” Meyer wrote, “and we were able to look at several measures.”</p>
<p>According to the Department of Justice, 12% of LGBT inmates say they’ve been sexually victimized by another inmate, compared to 1.2% of heterosexual prisoners. And 5% claim they’ve been violated by staff. compared to 2.1% of straights.</p>
<p>Sexual minorities were also more likely to experience solitary confinement and other sanctions, and to report current psychological distress.</p>
<p>Gay and bisexual women were sentenced to longer periods of time than straight women, while Gay/bisexual men were more likely to be serving sentences longer than 10 years.</p>
<p><span>It’s not just adults: A 2015 survey of young people in seven juvenile detention facilities found 20% identified as LGBT or gender non-conforming, compared to the 5-7% in the general population.</span></p>
</blockquote> Research on Chest Bindingtag:atheistnexus.org,2016-09-29:2182797:Topic:27108822016-09-29T02:18:16.680ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardner
<p><a href="https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/chest-binding-health-project-inside-landmark-overdue-transgender-study" target="_blank">Inside the Landmark, Long Overdue Study on Chest Binding</a></p>
<p><a href="https://broadly-images.vice.com/images/2016/09/27/chest-binding-for-queer-people-body-image-1474996190.jpg?output-quality=70" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://broadly-images.vice.com/images/2016/09/27/chest-binding-for-queer-people-body-image-1474996190.jpg?output-quality=70&amp;width=250" width="250"></img></a></p>
<blockquote><p>Chest binding is a fact of life for many people, including trans men, some gay women, intersex people, and…</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/chest-binding-health-project-inside-landmark-overdue-transgender-study" target="_blank">Inside the Landmark, Long Overdue Study on Chest Binding</a></p>
<p><a href="https://broadly-images.vice.com/images/2016/09/27/chest-binding-for-queer-people-body-image-1474996190.jpg?output-quality=70" target="_blank"><img src="https://broadly-images.vice.com/images/2016/09/27/chest-binding-for-queer-people-body-image-1474996190.jpg?output-quality=70&amp;width=250" class="align-center" width="250"/></a></p>
<blockquote><p>Chest binding is a fact of life for many people, including trans men, some gay women, intersex people, and gender non-conforming individuals like Naomhan. Flattening the appearance of one's breasts—whether that's through Ace bandages, compression undergarments, layered T-shirts, sports bras, or commercial binders—doesn't just make it easier to pass in public as the correct gender or wear masculine clothes. For many, it's a matter of psychological well-being.</p>
<p>... "Based on our preliminary analysis, for most participants, binding was a positive experience and led to improvements in mood and self-esteem, minimized gender dysphoria, anxiety, and depression, and helped them to feel in control of their bodies," a report they published on the study reads. "In fact, some reported that a positive impact on emotional and behavioral health makes the physical discomfort of binding worth it."</p>
<p>... but it can have negative impacts on your physical health—ranging from minor to severe—across a wide range of symptoms, from pain in different parts of your body, to shortness of breath, to bruising or other skin changes,"...</p>
<p>Despite the ubiquity of the practice, a staggering 97.2 percent of those surveyed reported at least one negative health outcome that they attributed to binding. Seventy-four percent reported pain-related concerns—the most common side effect was back pain (53.8 percent), followed by overheating (53.5 percent), chest pain (48.8 percent), shortness of breath (46.6 percent), and itching (44.9 percent). Fifty respondents even believed they had suffered from rib fractures as a result of binding.</p>
<p>None of them had ever approached a medical professional for advice on binding, even if they were in pain from binding.</p>
<p>"... The doctor is just going to tell me to stop doing what I'm doing that hurts me. I don't see the point."</p>
<p><a href="https://broadly-images.vice.com/images/2016/09/28/chest-binding-for-queer-people-body-image-1475069587.jpg?output-quality=70" target="_blank"><img src="https://broadly-images.vice.com/images/2016/09/28/chest-binding-for-queer-people-body-image-1475069587.jpg?output-quality=70&amp;width=300" class="align-center" width="300"/></a>... the research shows that commercial binders—such as those sold by Underworks—are actually most commonly associated with negative health outcomes. Participants who wore commercial binders reported 20 out of the 28 health outcomes listed in the study. Duct tape or plastic wrap—materials that people are <a href="http://binders101.tumblr.com/post/9176810719/how-bad-is-it-to-bind-with-duct-tape-what-about" target="_blank">commonly</a> <a href="http://nonbinary.org/wiki/Binding" target="_blank">advised</a> against binding with—were only associated with 13 out of the 28 side effects.</p>
<p>Many trans and gender non-conforming individuals say that they would continue binding regardless of the physical health risks. The psychological relief provided by binding—as well as the increased ability to pass in public as one's correct gender—often overweighs any potential downside.</p>
</blockquote> First nationwide survey of anti LGBT youth violencetag:atheistnexus.org,2016-08-14:2182797:Topic:27033792016-08-14T17:32:09.912ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardner
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/health/gay-lesbian-teenagers-violence.html" target="_blank">Gay and Lesbian High School Students Report ‘Heartbreaking’ Levels of Violence</a></p>
<blockquote><p class="story-body-text story-content">The <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/disparities/smy.htm">first nationwide study</a> to ask high school students about their sexuality found that gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers were at far greater risk for…</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/health/gay-lesbian-teenagers-violence.html" target="_blank">Gay and Lesbian High School Students Report ‘Heartbreaking’ Levels of Violence</a></p>
<blockquote><p class="story-body-text story-content">The <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/disparities/smy.htm">first nationwide study</a> to ask high school students about their sexuality found that gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers were at far greater risk for <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/depression/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Depression (Mental)." class="meta-classifier">depression</a>, bullying and many types of violence than their straight peers.</p>
<p>The survey found that about 8 percent of the high school population described themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, which would be about 1.3 million students.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">These adolescents were three times more likely than straight students to have been raped. They skipped school far more often because they did not feel safe; at least a third had been bullied on school property. And they were twice as likely as heterosexual students to have been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">More than 40 percent of these students reported that they had seriously considered suicide, and 29 percent had made attempts to do so in the year before they took the survey. The percentage of those who used illegal drugs was many times greater than their heterosexual peers. While 1.3 percent of straight students said they had used heroin, for example, 6 percent of the gay, lesbian and bisexual students reported having done so.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">...this survey did not include an option for teenagers to identify themselves as transgender.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a target="_blank" href="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/08/12/science/12YOUTH/12YOUTH-master768.jpg"><img class="align-center" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/08/12/science/12YOUTH/12YOUTH-master768.jpg?width=450" width="450"/></a></p> Famous Intellectual Michelle Bachmann to be Trump Advisortag:atheistnexus.org,2016-06-21:2182797:Topic:26931162016-06-21T23:27:38.863ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardner
Looks like Donald Trump is finally giving the Republican Establishment some morsels to savor. Naturally, that starts with the Republican obsession with all things homosexual. Famous Minnesota thinker and doer, Michelle Bachmann, has been named to Trump advisory board. Other members will Be James Dobson, Ralph Reed, and other evangelical "Pray away the Gay" leaders.…
Looks like Donald Trump is finally giving the Republican Establishment some morsels to savor. Naturally, that starts with the Republican obsession with all things homosexual. Famous Minnesota thinker and doer, Michelle Bachmann, has been named to Trump advisory board. Other members will Be James Dobson, Ralph Reed, and other evangelical "Pray away the Gay" leaders.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonblade.com/2016/06/21/bachmann-tops-list-of-trumps-evangelical-advisory-board/">http://www.washingtonblade.com/2016/06/21/bachmann-tops-list-of-trumps-evangelical-advisory-board/</a><br />
<br />
Recently, Mr. Trump announced that he would be a better friend to the gays, than Hillary Clinton. Apparently, this is part of his push for increased gay friendliness. In the words of a famous US Politician, "There's something going on there."<br />
<br />
<a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=trump+theres+something+going+on+there&amp;t=ffip&amp;ia=web">https://duckduckgo.com/?q=trump+theres+something+going+on+there&amp;t=ffip&amp;ia=web</a> Porn site puts North Carolina legislature to shametag:atheistnexus.org,2016-04-13:2182797:Topic:26794692016-04-13T01:01:51.959ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardner
<p><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/12/porn-website-shuts-out-north-carolina-to-protest-anti-lgbt-law/" target="_blank">Porn Website Shuts Out North Carolina to Protest Anti-LGBT Law</a></p>
<p>Three cheers for xHamster!</p>
<blockquote><p>In solidarity with the LGBT community of North Carolina, a popular porn website is delivering a jab to the conservative community where it hurts them the most — by cutting off their access.</p>
<p>North Carolina ... pulled in…</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/12/porn-website-shuts-out-north-carolina-to-protest-anti-lgbt-law/" target="_blank">Porn Website Shuts Out North Carolina to Protest Anti-LGBT Law</a></p>
<p>Three cheers for xHamster!</p>
<blockquote><p>In solidarity with the LGBT community of North Carolina, a popular porn website is delivering a jab to the conservative community where it hurts them the most — by cutting off their access.</p>
<p>North Carolina ... pulled in 400,000 searches for “transsexual” and 319,900 for “gay” — ... in the month of March.</p>
<p><a href="http://xhamster.com" rel="external" title="" class="ext-link" target="_blank">xHamster.com</a> will deny sexy eye candy to anyone with a North Carolina IP address until the recently passed <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/north-carolina-gender-bathrooms-bill/" rel="external" title="" class="ext-link" target="_blank">HB 2</a> has been repealed. The offending bill is in place to prevent individual counties and cities from making laws that would protect the rights of LGBT people.</p>
<p><span style="color: #800080;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Leave it to the people running a porn site to display a greater sense of human decency than North Carolina legislators.</strong> </span>[emphasis mine]</p>
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<p></p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/zoC*4GFO-4cslG3GAW82G-HnwXuIgIZ2byMo8qThEWQx-PBuwgc-a-3*owPGj8wEBkbkt2KZ*fGXcEoodEfwoyXLX*BxzT23/squint.jpg"><img class="align-center" src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/zoC*4GFO-4cslG3GAW82G-HnwXuIgIZ2byMo8qThEWQx-PBuwgc-a-3*owPGj8wEBkbkt2KZ*fGXcEoodEfwoyXLX*BxzT23/squint.jpg" width="247"/></a><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/north-carolina-anti-lgbt-bill-hb2-440372" target="_blank">image source</a> (text mine)</p> Religious Colleges get federal pass on discriminationtag:atheistnexus.org,2016-04-08:2182797:Topic:26786902016-04-08T03:31:46.813ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardner
<p><a href="http://www.alternet.org/education/outrage-some-universities-get-taxpayer-dollars-despite-banning-women-who-have-had" target="_blank">Outrage: Some Universities Get Taxpayer Dollars Despite Banning Women Who Have Had Abortions</a></p>
<blockquote><p>By getting exemptions from anti-discrimination rules, religiously affiliated schools can collect public money, yet ban unmarried individuals, pregnant women, single mothers and LGBTQ people.</p>
<p>... exemption from Title IX regulations,…</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.alternet.org/education/outrage-some-universities-get-taxpayer-dollars-despite-banning-women-who-have-had" target="_blank">Outrage: Some Universities Get Taxpayer Dollars Despite Banning Women Who Have Had Abortions</a></p>
<blockquote><p>By getting exemptions from anti-discrimination rules, religiously affiliated schools can collect public money, yet ban unmarried individuals, pregnant women, single mothers and LGBTQ people.</p>
<p>... exemption from Title IX regulations, in effect <strong>allowing the university to continue to collect federal dollars for scholarships and sports programs despite banning unmarried, pregnant students; women who have had abortions; single mothers; and LGBTQ people from attending classes or working on campus</strong>. [emphasis mine]</p>
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<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.cn.edu/libraries/tiny_mce/tiny_mce/plugins/imagemanager/files/College_Communications/Campus_Buildings/Business2.jpg"><img class="align-center" src="http://www.cn.edu/libraries/tiny_mce/tiny_mce/plugins/imagemanager/files/College_Communications/Campus_Buildings/Business2.jpg?width=400" width="400"/></a><a href="http://www.cn.edu/campus-map?view=33" target="_blank">image source</a></p> Gay Suicide - Art Backfirestag:atheistnexus.org,2016-03-26:2182797:Topic:26766632016-03-26T15:36:49.603ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardner
<p><br></br> In a classic case of the road to hell being paved with good intentions, Samuel Clowes Huneke, historian of modern Europe at Stanford University, discusses in this essay early (from the 1860s on) reactions to anti-sodomy laws. His contention is that typical depictions of gay men in art and literature, while attempting to point out the injustice of such laws, created the stereotype of gay suicide that still poses a grave danger to LBGT folk today.…</p>
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<p><br/> In a classic case of the road to hell being paved with good intentions, Samuel Clowes Huneke, historian of modern Europe at Stanford University, discusses in this essay early (from the 1860s on) reactions to anti-sodomy laws. His contention is that typical depictions of gay men in art and literature, while attempting to point out the injustice of such laws, created the stereotype of gay suicide that still poses a grave danger to LBGT folk today.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><br/> <strong><a href="https://aeon.co/opinions/the-gay-suicide-stereotype-kills-gay-people-and-must-end" target="_blank">The gay-suicide stereotype kills gay people, and must end</a><br/></strong></p>
<blockquote><p><br/> Fictional representations of LGBT characters are important because, in the lonely world of the closet, they might be the only models young people have. Depictions of romantic suicides are particularly insidious because populations confronted with suicide – whether illusory or real – are more prone to it themselves. Gay, lesbian and transgender youth are between twice and four times as likely as their straight peers to attempt suicide.</p>
<p><br/> The irony of the death wish was that – by exposing the victimisation of homosexual men – gay activists, scientists and novelists made victims of the gay population. For, by encouraging gay men and women to see themselves as victims of suicide, they naturalised gay suicide and helped foster the conditions of its perpetuation. The activists who first railed against unjust laws and the authors who dramatised their consequences in literature created a trope that would become a monster. This gay suicide trope is a grotesque and farcical reality that still causes suffering, a literary device perpetuated by a romantic sensibility that absurdly insists that the most fitting end to any gay life is premature, self-inflicted death. The ‘tragic homosexual’ is a stereotype we can live without.</p>
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<p><br/> Camus once made the crack that the only real philosophical question is whether or not to kill yourself. While personally I think he made an intriguing point, enough is enough. Our current cultural conditions entail ubiquitous bigotry and shitloads of ignorant parents programmed by religious grifters to torture their own gay or transgender children for a completely imaginary "offense."</p>
<p><br/> These people continue to fight tooth and nail against any depictions of same sex attraction as acceptable or normal, and they've continually attempted to buttress their hatred with a tsunami of egregious lies about gay sex. As <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Christianity-Social-Tolerance-Homosexuality-Fourteenth/dp/0226067114/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1459007197&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=John+Boswell" target="_blank">John Boswell</a> pointed out decades ago, it's almost as if they're in a panic that given an even playing field without fear of negative consequences, their offspring might prefer being gay.</p>